▪ I. privateer, n.
(praɪvəˈtɪə(r))
[f. private a. + -eer1, prob. after volunteer; in sense 1, app. orig. colloq. for private man of war, the name in earlier use. (Privateer, used in the Calendars of State Papers from 1651, does not occur in the original papers before c 1664.)
1646 (Oct. 29) MS. Orders & Instruct. (Adm. Libr.) 22 Instruccions and a fiat in the usuall form were this day signed for Capt. Wm. Davies employing of the ship the 3 kings of dover being of 250 tons and 17 guns as a private man of warre in her way of merchandize. 1651–2 State Papers Dom. I. 32 p. 29 That Warrant be issued to the Judges of the Admiraltie to grant letters for a Private Man of Warr to John Mole. Ibid. I. 131 p. 64 Commissions for Private Men of Warre or letters of reprezall. 1665 Cal. St. P. Dom. (1863) 182 Obligation..entered into by private men-of-war furnished with letters of reprisal against the Dutch.]
1. An armed vessel owned and officered by private persons, and holding a commission from the government, called ‘letters of marque’, authorizing the owners to use it against a hostile nation, and especially in the capture of merchant shipping. (See marque1 2.)
(The first quotation may belong to sense 2.)
| 1664 Col. T. Lynch in Cal. State Pap., Colon. (1880) 211 The calling in of the privateers will be but a remote and hazardous expedient... What compliance can be expected from men..that have no other element but the sea, or trade but privateering. 1665 Pepys Diary 17 Apr., How three Dutch privateers are taken, in one whereof Everson's son is captaine. 1667 Ibid. 20 Feb. 1687 B. Randolph Archipelago 46 There are several other ports and creeks, which are often haunted by the privateers. 1702 Royal Declar. June in Lond. Gaz. No. 3815/3 Her Majesty having Impowered the Lord High Admiral of England to grant Letters of Marque, or Commissions for Privateers. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. xiv. 279 Men of war are much better provided with all conveniences than privateers. 1813 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. (1839) XI. 143 The capture of a Mediterranean packet by an American privateer. |
2. The commander, or pl. the crew, of such a vessel.
| a 1674 Clarendon Life (1842) 1127/2 It was resolved [1665] that all possible encouragement should be given to privateers. 1687 Royal Proclam. 18 Sept. in Lond. Gaz. No. 2279/3 His Majesty will..grant unto such Pirat or Pirats, Privateer or Privateers, a full Pardon for all Piracies or Robberies. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. i. 120 The usual haunt of the buccaneers and privateers. 1850 Grote Greece ii. lxv. VIII. 297 Lysander sent off the Milesian privateer Theopompus to proclaim it [the victory] at Sparta. 1883 S. C. Hall Retrospect I. 86 Privateers were little scrupulous as to what kind of victim they pounced upon. |
| fig. 1692 Wicked Contriv. S. Blackhead in Select. fr. Harl. Misc. (1793) 530 To give notice of him, that there was such a privateer abroad, and to obviate..the evil practices of so vile a man. 1698 Farquhar Love & Bottle i. Wks. 1892 I. 13 We masks are the purest privateers! 1836 Dickens Let. 1 Nov. (1965) I. 188, I perceive that ‘Bells Life’—‘The Carlton Chronicle’, and some other Weekly papers, are in the habit of re-publishing my sketches from the Chronicle verbatim... Some remonstrance in the paper might have the effect of inducing the Privateers at all events to acknowledge the source from which they derive the Articles. |
† 3. A volunteer soldier, a free-lance, a guerilla.
| 1676 I. Mather K. Philip's War (1862) 58 Hearing many profane oaths among some of our Souldiers (namely those Privateers, who were also Volunteers). 1677 W. Hubbard Narrative 18 Our Horsemen with the whole body of the Privateers under Captain Moseley..ran violently down upon them. |
4. An advocate or exponent of private enterprise.
| 1940 Amer. Guardian 5 Apr. 4/3 It is the general policy of the privateers never to reduce their rate unless forced to do so by public competition in the shape of municipally or federally owned [electric power] plants. 1965 Spectator 19 Feb. 223/1 These two engaging privateers..are concerned not so much with steel as with the general pattern of British politics. 1979 Arizona Daily Star 22 July c 10/1 As a privateer, Serrano drove himself to the races and for the last half of the series even served as his own mechanic. |
5. attrib., as privateer brig, privateer captain, privateer schooner, etc.
| 1675 Cal. State Pap., Colon. (1893) 263 What is due to the Lord Admiral from the privateer captains and their companies that sail under his commission. 1695 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 552 Their King, the nobility and gentry [of France], have subscribed to a new bank (which they call the privateer bank), designing to fitt out yearly a certain number of privateers to disturb the trade of the allies. 1743 Bulkeley & Cummins Voy. S. Seas 3 The Commodore sent out a Privateer Sloop. 1798 Times 28 June 2/2 A French privateer brig of 14 guns. |
Sense 5 in Dict. becomes 6. Add: 5. Motor Racing (orig. and chiefly U.S.). A competitor who races at his own expense as a private individual, rather than as a member of a works team.
| 1979 Arizona Daily Star 22 July c10/1 As a privateer, Serrano drove himself to the races and for the last half of the series even served as his own mechanic. 1985 Dirt Bike Mar. 45/1 (Advt.), ‘Gold Superpro’ is outrageously overdesigned and intended for working pros or serious privateers only. 1987 Rally Sport Jan. 67/3 Glyn Jones finished 14th, a fine effort for a privateer, in his Opel Manta 400. |
▪ II. privateer, v. rare.
(praɪvəˈtɪə(r))
[f. prec. Chiefly used in the vbl. n. and ppl. adj. privateering (see next): cf. mountaineer, parliamenteer, etc.]
intr. To play the privateer, to practise privateering.
| 1691 Commission of Jas. II, 29 June (Admiralty Prize Pap., bundle 90, P.R.O.), We..give leave permit and suffer you..to privateer and seaze the ships of all persons whatsoever onely excepted [etc.]. 1696 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) IV. 58 To perswade the [French] King..to fitt out all the frigats he has, and to privateer this summer. |